Geek News: ‘TRON 3’ OFFICIALLY NOT HAPPENING

Tron came to theaters in 1982 and gave audiences the first glimpse of the magic that could be created by blending live action and computer animation. Though the movie was only a modest success financially, it eventually became a cult classic and spawned an entire franchise that included comic books, video games and a cartoon series. Tron Legacy, a sequel to the film, was directed by Joseph Kosinski and released in 2010. Though the film received mixed reviews, it grossed $400 million at the box office and came 11th in the race to be highest grossing film that year. Due to the lengthy legacy of and continued interest in the franchise, Disney Studios–which is notorious for milking their cows to death–made plans to release an additional film to create a trilogy. The third movie has been in development, with the director and several actors from previous films set to return. However, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney has decided not to move forward with the film.

Don’t tell my husband, but I’ve never actually sat through the two existing Tron films and would most likely not have sat through an additional one. However, I pray and hope this does is not the beginning of a trend where the only live-action movies from Disney in the next three years will be sappy rehashes of their animated successes. Don’t get me wrong, I’m totally pumped to see Emma Watson as Belle and I’m rooting for them to do the right thing and cast actual Asians in Mulan. I just want there to be more than retold fairy tales in the near future. Disney has already set a president for success with Malificent and Cinderella. They already have Beauty and the Beast, The Jungle Book, Mulan and Tink in queue to receive the live-action treatment. While it’s true that Tron 3 would have been a second sequel and not a truly original concept, at least it wouldn’t have been yet another reboot/re-imagining/retelling of the same exact story. Let’s hope Disney has someone hidden away in a moderately nice office somewhere working on getting us something new and original to go along with all these remakes.